Danny Etling has something other than a new offense to learn this preseason for the LSU football team. He also has to keep his fundamentals in check.

The fifth-year senior quarterback said playing last season with persistent back pain caused him to develop poor throwing habits he must now work to break.

He kept that in mind during a Saturday scrimmage that marked the most game-like setting he has played in since his post-spring back surgery.

"It was great; I was able to move around, I felt a lot better," Etling said Tuesday. "I was able to make more runs and move around in the pocket, really transfer some of my weight in my throws. It's something (offensive coordinator Matt Canada) is really pushing me on, which is to keep working my fundamentals, especially for this next week of camp."

Etling said last week he felt better than 90 percent healthy with a full expectation that he'll be at 100 percent for the Sept. 2 opener against BYU at NRG Stadium in Houston. He indicated more improved health this week.

"You get a little more sleep at night not having to deal with a lot of pain so there's that aspect of it, too," he said. "Mentally, to have more rest and have more confidence that you can make some throws that might have been tougher, so hopefully I can continue to get better and keep working toward getting my footwork back and all my fundamentals before we can start game planning for teams."

Etling completed 5 of 11 passes in the scrimmage for 86 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, according to stats shared by coach Ed Orgeron. The coach said Saturday that a dropped pass on a deep throw prevented that yardage total from being higher.

Orgeron said after the scrimmage that Etling was "throwing the ball better" after his back surgery.

"It was better than I've been in the past for sure," Etling said of his throws. "Coach Canada is always pushing me to be perfect and that's where I want to be at, so it's gotten better every day. We keep figuring out every day what we want to work on and then how to work. Every day has been better and better."

The new offense under Canada is set for the quarterback to distribute the ball to multiple players. Learning how to operate within that offense has been the other task for Etling as he keeps a focus on fundamentals.

"I like how we can facilitate the ball to so many different guys," he said. "Not one guy can only hurt you. It's a lot of different ways to get our playmakers the ball. That's what we're going to keep doing. We're going to keep taking what the defense gives you, which is something that coach Canada's philosophy has been, which is to take whatever the defense has given us and keep letting them kind of adjust and let our offense adjust to what they're going to do."

Canada explained that philosophy during the LSU coaches clinic in March, when he talked about finding the weakest spot on the opposing defense -- "Where's Waldo?" he termed it -- and attacking it with his best.

Having the weekly Saturday scrimmages are a help, Etling said.

"He'll call a play and he'll be on the field to tell you exactly what he's thinking," Etling said. "Sometimes we're on different wavelengths and we just got to keep working to be on the same wavelength, and that's my job to keep working with him on that."